WI Chechnyan terrorists use a suitcase nuke against Russia

As we all know, Russia still hasn't located all of its suitcase nukes. Suppose that somewhere in the late 90s or early 2000s the Chechnyans get one and use one of them against a Russian target (most likely a densely populated area where the 1 kiloton blast will kill the most people).

What will happen then? How will Putin respond to this and what will the international community think.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effects_of_nuclear_explosions#Summary_of_the_effects
 
Last edited:
Depends, I suppose, on the Death Toll. I could see Russia going up to a nuclear reprisal or ethnic cleansing. The really sad thing is, if the Chechens did this sort of thing I'd expect the world would turn a blind eye to their situation as Russia really goes postal on them.
 
A big issue is how Russia finds out who did it. If it was a really small group that did this, and they did not claim responsibility, who would Russia blame for the attack?

I can see this as being the prelude to a military build-up and all out war between Russia and some other state should the terrorists remain silent and no one learns of who was behind things.
 

wormyguy

Banned
It would kill a couple thousand people, Russia would get angry and kill a bunch of Chechens.

It's a common misconception that a "suitcase bomb" (which don't exist, by the way) could cause Hiroshima-style destruction. In fact, a one-kiloton blast in the middle of Central Park would not shake the leaves of trees at the edge. There are far simpler, less risky, and less resource-intensive ways that terrorists could kill a similar number of people.
 
Last edited:
The mess would get even messier?

Moscow-entrenched Chechen business interests, reconstruction-money laundering schemes, all that good stuff that kept the borders porous, none of that went away. So they can bash more heads, but ultimately there's nothing they can do without revoking the Chechens' Russian citizenships left and right or imprisoning all Chechens (good luck with that).

It also depends on when it happens. Different periods in the conflict would result in different solutions.
 
Top